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                                                      Mexican Gold Cobs

(Scroll down for a brief history of Mexican Gold Cobs, 1679-1732)

Mexican 8 escudos from the 1715 Fleet have been moved to this new page.

From THE 1715 Fleet:

M1. Mexico, Reign of Charles II (1655-1700)     [SOLD]

One escudo dated 1700/99, assayer Lopez (L)

Very rare one year type (first appearance of the Mo mint mark)

Only one other collectible specimen known,

Found in July 1988 on Douglas Beach, wrecksite of the Nieves,

with Jack Haskins salvage certificate

Here is a rare Fleet gold cob I've never seen before. For some reason the die cutters at Mexico City felt free to experiment in the last year of Carlos II's difficult reign, and this remarkable little one escudo is a result. For this year only, and only on the one escudo, Mo replaces MXo as the mintmark. On all denominations 1701-1713 the Mexican mint reverts to MXo. The Hapsburg shield, with an enlarged triangle of Granada, is very well and distinctive  executed for this denomination. On the cross the huge, elongated fleurs de lis in the angles of the cross look like they designed El Greco. See Frances Keith's comments of this very rare type, Type E, in The Appendix to Craig's book on the Florida Collection.

Exactly two dated 1700 Mexican one escudos were found on Douglas Beach in the 1988 Field Season. At Division the State of Florida took one, now coin #11.01694 in the State Collection, and generously allowed this coin to remain with the salvors. Interestingly, the two Fleet 1700 one escudos are from different dies. The State coin is not an overdate and the second 0 in 1700 is large and well centered. On this 1700, the second 0 in 1700 is high and smaller, plainly struck over a 9, most of which is visible. Overdates are certainly not rare on box-cross (1699-1710) Mexican escudos, especially on denominations like the one escudo were mintage were low and dies often recycled.

This one escudos weighs 3.49 gms and has a diameter of 18.5 mm. Remarkably, it has the color and luster that it had when it left the dies 309 years ago. All in all, a superb Fleet rarity.

SOLD.

terravitan@aol.com or 480-595-1293

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From the 1715 Plate Fleet

M2. Mexico, Reign of Charles II (1665-1700)

one escudo, type of 1699-1701,

struck from a 1699 two escudos die on a very large planchet,

lustrous, beautifully struck and centered, and mint state.

Mexico. Charles II. Rare box cross one escudo issued only 1699-1701. Lustrous, mint state, and struck on a huge 20 mm planchet from a 1699 two escudos shield die but from a normal cross die. 3.41 gms.

 This is one of the most attractive Fleet Mexican one escudo that I've ever seen. The booming luster and the size of the coin are the first things that strike you. Everyone thinks it's a two escudos because it is struck on a huge 20 mm planchet. The average diameter of a Charles II two escudos is just slightly more than 21 mm. The size of the shield, 15 mm from top to bottom, also says it is a two escudos design. The  standard shield on Mexican two escudos coins is exactly 15 mm long. Oddly enough, the two escudos shield die is muled with the correct size cross die. This error is rare at the Mexican mint, especially in the slow coinage years under Charles II. No other Charles II two escudos/one escudo mulings are known. The shield die is a distinctive design associated only with 1699. The fat, almost vertical bars of Old Burgundy are the key feature. We can be almost certainly that this is 1699 one escudo, given the as-new condition of the die. (If a 1699 die were reused in 1700, it would not lokk pristine.)

At the very end of Charles II's sad reign, the Mexico City stopped using the jeweled cross design and started using a new style of cross known as the box cross. The solid crossbars of the box cross end in rectangular boxes. The box cross design was introduced in 1699 and was used mostly on posthumous issues of 1700-1701. Prior to the Fleet recoveries of the 1960's only one or two Charles II box cross one escudos were known to exist. Even with the Fleet additions to the population, we probably have no more than a dozen specimens extant.

The recovery site of all the Charles II Mexican one escudos, including three coins in the Florida Collection, is  small section at the north end of Douglas or Colored Beach Wreck. The Douglas site is now identified as the wrecksite of the Nieves, one of the smaller vessel in the 1715 Plate Fleet. Some wealthy individual was probably returning to Spain with the treasure he had accumulated in a twenty year sojourn in New Spain. A July Florida hurricane changed his retirement plans.


Available for $2850

terravitan@aol.com or 480-595-1293

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MEXICAN GOLD COBS

The mint at Mexico City issued gold bars and carefully adjusted escudo-equivalent gold ingots from at least 1537--see our Special Page for early Mexican gold ingots-- but was not permitted an official gold coinage until 1679. Thereafter it struck gold cobs annually, but usually in small numbers,  until 1732. In that period three Spanish monarchs sat on the throne. The unfortunate Carlos II reigned until 1700, to be succeeded by the first Bourbon monarch Felipe V, whose reign was interrupted for seven moths in 1724 by the accession and death of his son Luis I.

The 37 year period from 1679 to 1715 is generally known as the “Fleet era.” Approximately 98% of the surviving Mexican gold cobs fall into this period and trace their survival to the Florida wrecks of the 1715 Fleet. In fact, more than 94% of surviving Mexican gold fall into the five year period 1711-15.

The first 16 years (1679-1694) of gold production at Mexico City is attested by a mere handful of dated coins. Even undated specimens are rare. Assayer Lopez (L) struck one, two, four and eight escudos, the larger denominations showing the final version of the Hapsburg shield with a stylized crown and on the reverse an attractive jeweled cross. In 1695 the jeweled cross reverse was replaced with a “box cross”, a design which lasted on the onza until 1710.

Dated Fleet era onzas, 1695-1710, remain rarities. Only the last date, 1710, is represented by more than 2 coins. In fact, there are three 1710 onzas extant! In 1705 assayer Lopez was succeeded by assayer Jose Eustaquio de Leon (J), who remained in office until 1723. At first assayer J preserved the traditional types, but by 1711 he had begun to experiment with new obverses and reverses. After a year (1713) that featured some of the worst dies and gold planchets ever produced at Mexico City, dies apparently became machine-produced and planchets expertly cast or cut in a fashion that did not require faceting. See the beautiful round 1715 onza on our Home Page. After 1715 all Mexican gold cobs again become rarities in all denominations, with most dates unknown and many dates represented by only one or two specimens.

1714 is by far the most common Mexican escudos. Hundreds of nice one, two and eight escudos survive from the Fleet. Five varieties of the 1714 onza exist and are eagerly pursued by collectors.

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RECENTLY SOLD:

Very rare final issue (1723) of Fleet Assayer Jose Eustaquio de Leon (J)e o        lf Assayer J1712smalcob

Mexico, eight escudo, "muy rara" undated issue of 1723.
Calico OMB # 407,  LA ONZA # 406,   27.09 gms, 34 mm.

All post-1715 issues of assayer J are "muy rara" according to Calico. Small original mintage and heavy remelting in the 1732-33 recoinage seems to have to virtually wiped out Mexican onzas issued between 1716 and  1732. Only mintages in the years 1717-18, 1720 and 1723 are confirmed, and the total number of survivors is apparently less than 20 onzas. Four 1723's are known including one superb royal in the Mexico City Casa de Moneda Collection. One dated specimen, pictured in Calico, now also is in a public collection. That leaves two die-matched undated specimens, including the present example. 1723 Mexican onzas have two distinguishing features not found on any other Mexican onzas: a rosette separates the mint mark and assayer mark, and on the cross side the exterior fleurs-de-lis look like the cotton blossoms found on Morgan dollars. No other onzas from the 1710's or 1720's looks like the 1723's.

This example without question is the finest collectible 1723 onza and one the most attractive of late issue of assayer J. It pedigrees to a major old Spanish collection where it was impounded for over 50 years until late 2007.

Sold

SOLD

From the 1715 Plate Fleet

1708 Mexico Eight Escudos.  Very rare: one of two dated specimens known

Two 1708 Mexican onzas are known, both recovered by Real 8 from the Nieves site. Somehow neither was absorbed into the Florida State Collection at Division. The companion to this coin--same dies--is pictured in Calico's LA ONZA as coin #381. Prior to recovery of these two Fleet coins, Chavez-Lopez believed he had located a unique specimen of the 1708 onza, and so described it in his 1962 CATALOGO of the onzas. Unfortunately, that coin does not have a readable final digit and is now re-assigned by Calico to 1706. In fact, it is partial date 170(x) with 6 through 9 possible as the final digit. Its dies do not match those on the dated 1708's.

This 1708 onza has the slight reddish tint so often found on 1713 Mexican escudos. It was found in the same area of Colored Beach as the 1713's. I have suggested elsewhere that this reddish tint is typical of gold coins that have spent a long time in contact with saturated organic material. The 1713's and 1708's were probably in a leather pouch when the Nieves sank. This 1708 onza also shows marine deposits and whitish coral, especially on the cross side. It is full weight at 27.0 grams.

Besides being one of only two 1708 Mexican onzas--the other 1708 is impounded in a major private collection from which it will not emerge for many years--this is one of less than a dozen dated BOX CROSS onzas known for the entire 1698-1710 type period. By any measure it a major rarity and an amazing survivor from the exiguous early gold coinage of the Mexico City mint.


Sold.

From the 1715 Plate Fleet

Mexico. Reign of Charles II (1665-1700).  Jeweled Cross four escudos, circa 1690. Very Rare.

The first gold issues of the mint at Mexico City featured the distinctive designs you see on this four escudos. The most striking design feature is the ornate jeweled cross. On the 4 escudos, this design continued until 1699, with at least three significant sub-varieties. No one has yet made a study of jeweled cross Mexican escudos, due to the rarity of the type in all denominations, but I am attempting to do so.

This is a middle-style issue, 1688-1694, identified by various distinctive features of the cross, shield and crown. Prior to the salvages from the 1715 Fleet, the entire population of jeweled cross media onzas  (1680-1699) was represented by no more than a half dozen or so coins. See the Lopez-Chavez 1961 monograph on the media onza. I believe the 1715 Fleet has added about another half dozen coins to the population, including this exceptional piece.

This jeweled cross 4 escudos  has very light sea surfaces and marine deposits/coral, especially in the lower area of the shield. It has good weight at 13.41 gms and a large, rounded planchet. If you would like a jeweled cross Mexican 4 escudos from the 1715 Fleet, this is a chance that may not be repeated for many years.

Sold.

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